D. Range Comp... What setting should be at?

I have a couple of question actually. I have a rather old Sony receiver and one of settings is called D. Range Comp or digital range compression . I was wondering whats the optimal setting to this. Off,STD,Max or should I manually set this up myself? Also I have set all my speakers cut-level to 80hz. The 4 main speakers can hit 56 while to center can hit 60. I just want to make sure this the correct set-up.

kiddsilk69 said:

I have a couple of question actually. I have a rather old Sony receiver and one of settings is called D. Range Comp or digital range compression . I was wondering whats the optimal setting to this. Off,STD,Max or should I manually set this up myself? Also I have set all my speakers cut-level to 80hz. The 4 main speakers can hit 56 while to center can hit 60. I just want to make sure this the correct set-up.

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The dynamic range compression does just that. It compresses the subtle and loud peaks so that there is not such a dynamic difference between the two levels. For normal viewing and to get the most out of a film/music as intended by engineers you should run it at off setting. This is no compression at all. The 80hz x-over point is a great starting point for setup. It is said by the experts that even if your mains or all spkrs are capable of handling lower bass, say below 80hz, you should still set to small and let sub handle lower bass and lfe's. Don't confuse low bass and lfe's. A lfe is a discrete channel that even the best spkrs(not subs) can't reproduce faithfully. You may want to try a 60hz setting if possible to obtain the smoothest blend in your system and keeping in mind the room acoustics. Is your room bright? lots of deflection? or soft with lots of absorbing materials such as sofa, drapes, etc. Just experiment with both movies and music. I like to adjust for music and then tweek for movie. Maybe just a little boost here or a little less of something there. I refer to channel level boost/cut or bass/treb adjustment(tone). Happy listening.

Off - should mean 'no compression'; ie full dynamic range.
Std - small amount of compression; ie somewhat limited dynamic range.
Max - maximum amount of compression; ie very limited dynamic range.

I don't like the naming convention of 'Std' and 'Max' of that receiver (Yamaha does the same thing). Just what is a 'standard' level of compression? I prefer Onkyo's choice which is much easier to understand (None, Low, High).

Regardless of the confusion due to strange names for the settings, all receivers that offer the feature operate the same way. The dynamic range compression is only available for Dolby Digital and sometimes the effect isn't all that noticeable if the bitstream doesn't have sufficient meta-data to help the processor decide how to compress the signal, but in most cases it works very well. I use it all the time and most of the time use the Max setting ('High' on my Onkyo). That really cuts down the loud peaks and I prefer that late at night.

When the processor compresses the loud peaks it brings up the average level of the signal and since the ear responds to average level, using dynamic compression can make the softer dialog easier to hear.

Confusing issue. My Yamaha manual states "select MAX to preserve the greatest amount of dynamic range".
This is also the factory default.
It also says "Select Min when listening at low volume levels."

So where should the setting really be? These two statements seem to contradict each other. I think I want the largest amount of range yet I think additional range would be preferable at low levels. - B

On the Yamaha, I think the choices are Min, Max, and Std, correct? That is slightly different than the original poster's Sony with Off, Std, Max but equally confusing. Because his includes 'Off' (no compression), then I assume Max means maximum compression.

In the case of the Yamaha, when they say 'use Max to preserve the greatest dynamic range' that means that Max is no compression. It refers to 'maximum dynamic range' NOT 'maximum compression'. Min would be the absolute minimum dynamic range and therefore the most compression and Std would be somewhere in between.

So to translate:
No compression = None (Onkyo), Off (Sony), Max (Yamaha)
little compresion = Low (Onkyo), Std (Sony), Std (Yamaha)
a lot of compression = High (Onkyo), Max (Song), Min (Yamaha)

If you play a DD track either from a disc or from digital cable, you should be able to tell which is which when you switch between them. The setting for the small amount of compression sometimes doesn't make a very drastic change, but the maximum compression is very noticeable.

One would think. But lets confuse things a bit more. Before the statement about "preserving dynamic range" there's a line that reads "select the amount of dynamic range compression to be APPLIED to your speakers" with MAX being the most. Still confused. I like the Off, Standard, Max idea better.
Guess I'll have to pull out "House of Flying Daggers" and see if I can hear a difference. - B

It's not confusing. I have a Yamaha and MDS is 100% correct, MAX = maximum dynamic range. You are reading into it in the manual way too much. It is likely translated from Japanese so it may not be perfect. You should see my MSI motherboard User's Manual. It's terrible in the translations, some things that don't even have any meaning are written leaving one quite confused if they try to interpret it.

EDIT: Well maybe not translated from Japanese, but you are still reading into it more than needed. Set it to max when you want the full dynamic range and you are golden. Just because it says "Use this to select the amount of dynamic range compression to be applied to your speaker..." doesn't necessarily imply that MAX setting = maximum compression. If that were the case there would have to be an "Off" or "none" setting. They are simply stating that this is the setting which will affect the amount of compression the reciever uses.

Thanks for the quick response guys. I had already set all my speakers to small and adjust all the cut-off to 80Hz I'll try 60 tommorow. mnnc I have Alot of furnitue in my viewing room which kind of worries me with having to adjust for delay(I sit rather close to the TV while there some coaches far back). Any recommendations? I havent really adjusted any of the treble/bass settings b/c from what I've read Sony has kind of crippled the controls so I turned off the EQ .